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Month: August 2014

Last Wednesday the red and blue half of the Boedo district in Buenos Aires celebrated their first ever Copa Libertadores title; a first half penalty gave El Ciclón a 2-1 aggregate win over Nacional Asunción.

Two years ago things were different for San Lorenzo, they were riddled with debt and just about avoided playing in Argentina’s second tier. However, things started to improve for El Ciclón with club president Matías Lammens and vice president Marcelo Tinelli at the helm, the club won the 2013 Clausura title and now have won their first ever Copa Libertadores trophy.

El Ciclón as they are commonly known by their fans (the name is linked with rivals Club Atlético Huracán which means hurricane) and famously supported by Pope Francis were the only Argentinian team to qualify for the first Copa Libertadores tournament back in 1960 (Montevideo side Peñarol claimed the first ever Libertadores title in that year and beat Bolivian side Jorge Wilstermann 7-1).

Brazilian referee Sandro Meira Ricci pointed to the spot in the 34th minute of the game when Nacional defender Ramón Coronel blocked Martín Cauteruccio’s attempted overhead effort which hit Coronel’s hand and the referee had no choice but to give the penalty. Néstor Ortigoza stepped up to take the penalty and slotted the ball past Nacional keeper Ignacio Don to put San Lorenzo ahead against his fellow countrymen.

The former Argentinos Juniors midfielder has now scored 21 of 22 penalties so far in his career (Goal.com).

The Paraguayan club had a few decent efforts late in the first half however they failed to test El Ciclón keeper Sebastián Torrico. As the final whistle went, the fans in true San Lorenzo fashion were jumping up and down singing in unison “La Copa Libertadores es mi obsesión” (The Copa Libertadores is my obsession).

What was particularly interesting about San Lorenzo’s Copa Libertadores triumph was that they didn’t win away from home in the tournament, São Pauloare also the only club in Copa Libertadores history to claim a Libertadores title from home victories.